


/ 






HISTORICAL SKETCHES 



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HE JpWJM p^ ^ f^fffY^, 



NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



BY DR. MOSES LONG. 



OniCJINALLY PUBLISHED AT 

CONCORD, 
BY .JACOB B. 1MOORE. 

183l>. 



THIRTY COPIKS, ONLY, llEl'KINTKD IN SKPAKATK FORM 
CHARLES H. BELL. 

1870. 




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HISTOEICAL SKETCHES 

OF 

WARNER, N. H 



BY DR. M. LONG. 



Warner, a post 'town in Mernmack county, is situated 
west of Boscawen ; fifteen miles northwest of Concord, in 
the latitude of 43 degrees 16 minutes north. It has Sut- 
ton, Wilmot, and Salisljury, on the north, Boscawen on the 
east, Hopkinton and Henniker on the south, and Bradford 
on the west, and contains 29,620 acres, including Kearsarge 
Gore, which was annexed to Warner by an act of the leg- 
islature, June 1818. The Gore, which is a strip of land 
lying between Salisbury and Sutton, extends from the orig- 
inal north line of Warner to the highest peak of Kearsarge 
mountain, and contains 4,620 acres. 

Warner was first granted by the government of Massa- 
chusetts Bay to sundry petitioners in Amesbury and Salis- 
bury, in that then province, as early as 1735. The condi- 
tions of the grant were specified in the report of a com- 
mittee to the legislature of that state as follows, viz : 

At a great and general court or assembly for his Majes- 
ty's province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, 
began and held at Boston, upon Wednesday the twenty- 
eighth day of May, 1734, and continued by several adjourn- 



2 HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF WARNER. 

ments to Wcdiiesdcay the nineteenth clay of November, and 
further continued by adjournments to Wednesday the thirty 
first day of December following, then met Thursday, Jan- 
uary 15, 1735. 

Edmund Quincy, Esquire, from the committee of both 
houses on petitions for townships, &c., gave in the following 
report, viz : — The committee appointed the fourteenth cur- 
rent to take into consideration the several petitions for 
townships before the court, and report what may be proper 
for the court to do thereon, having met and maturely con- 
sidered the same, are humbly of opinion that there be a 
careful view and survey of the lands between Merrimack 
and Connecticut rivers, from the northwest corner of Rum- 
ford [Concord] on Merrimack, to the great falls on Con- 
necticut, of twelve miles at the least in breadth or north 
and south ; by a committee of eleven able and suitable per- 
sons to be appointed by this court, who shall after a due 
knowledge of the nature and circumstances thereof, lay the 
same into as many townships of the contents of six miles 
square as the land in width as aforesaid will allow of; no 
townships to be more than six miles east and west ; and 
also lay out the land on the east side of Connecticut river 
from said falls to the township laid out to Josiah Willard 
and others, into as many townships of the contents of six 
miles square as the same will allow of; and also the land 
on the west side of the river of Connecticut from said falls 
to the equivalent land into one or two townships of the 
contents of six miles square, if the same will allow thereof. 
Five of which committee to be a quorum for surveying and 
laying out the township on each, from Rumford to Con- 
necticut river as aforesaid ; and three of the committee 
aforenamed shall be a quorum for surveying and laying out 
the townships on each side of Connecticut river as afore- 
said ; and that the said committee make report of their 
doings to this court at their session in May next, or as soon 
as conveniently they can, that the persons whose names 



HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF WARNER. 6 

are contained in the several petitions hereafter mentioned, 
viz. in the petition of Hopkinton, in the petition of Salis- 
bury and Amesbury, in the petition of Cambridge, in the 
petition of Bradford and Wenham, in the petition of 
Haverhill, in the petition of Milton and Brookline, in 
the petition of Samuel Chamberlain and Jonathan Jewett, 
and in the petition of Nathaniel Harris, &c., in the 
petition of Morgan Cobb, &c., Jonathan Wells, <&c., Lys- 
comb and Johnson, <fec., in the petition of Isaac Little, 
&c., in the petition of Jonathan Powers, &c., John 
Whitman, Esq., &c., Samuel Haywood, <fec., Josiah Fasset 
and others, Jolin Flint and others, Jonathan How and oth- 
ers of Bridgewater, that have not heretofore been admitted 
grantees or settlers within the space of seven years last 
past of or in any former or other grant of a township or 
particular grant on condition of settling ; and that shall 
appear and give security to the value of forty pounds to 
perform the conditions that shall be enjoined by this court ; 
may by the major part of the committee l)e admitted grant- 
ees into one of the said townships ; the committee to give 
public notice of the time and place of their meeting to 
admit the grantees ; which committee shall be empowered 
to employ surveyors and chainmen to assist them in sur- 
veying and laying out said townships. The province to 
bear the charge and be repaid by the grantees who may be 
admitted. The whole charge they shall advance, which 
committee we apprehend ought to be directed and empow- 
ered to admit sixty settlers in each township, and take their 
bonds payable to the committee and their successors in the 
said trust to the use of the province for the performance of 
the conditions of their grant, viz. That each grantee build 
a dwelling house of eighteen feet square and seven feet 
stud at the least on their respective house lots, and fence 
in and break up for ploughing, or clear and stock with 
English grass five acres of land within three years next 
after their admittance, and cause their respective lots to be 



4 HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF WARNER. 

inhabited; and that the grantees do, withhi the space of 
three years from the time of their behig admitted, build 
and finish a convenient meeting house for the public wor- 
ship of God, and settle a learned orthodox minister. And 
in case any of the graritees shall fail or neglect to perform 
what is enjoined as above, the committee shall be obliged 
to put the bonds in suit, and take possession of the lots 
and rights that shall become forfeited, and proceed to grant 
them to other persons that will appear to fulfil the condi- 
tion within one year next after their last mentioned grant. 
And if a sufficient number of petitioners that have no 
grant within seven years as aforesaid, viz. sixty to each 
township, do not appear, others may be admitted, pro- 
vided they have fulfilled the conditions of their former 
grant. The committee to take care that there be sixty 
three house lots laid out in as regular, compact and defens- 
ible a manner as the land will admit of; one of which lots 
shall be for the first settled minister, one for the second 
settled minister, and one for the school ; to each of which 
an equal proportion of land shall accrue in all future di- 
visions. 

Friday^ Jannary 16, 1735. In the house of representa- 
tives, ordered, that Joseph Gerrish, Benjamin Prescot, Jo- 
siah Willard, Job Almy, Esqrs. Mr. Moses Pearson, and 
Capt. Joseph Gould, with such as the honourable board 
shall join, be a committee to all intents and purposes to ef- 
fect the business projected by the report of the committee 
of both houses to consider tlie petitions for townships, which 
passed this day, viz. On the proposed line between Merri- 
mack and Connecticut rivers, and on both sides of Con- 
necticut river ; and that there be granted and allowed to 
be paid out of the public treasury, after the rate of fifteen 
shillings per diem, for every day he is in the service in the 
woods, and subsistence, and ten shillings per diem for 
every day to each one of the said committee while in the 



HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF WARNER. O 

service in admitting settlers into the said townships, and 
subsistence, to be paid as aforesaid. 

In council, Read and concurred, and William Dudley, 
Samuel Wells, Thomas Berry, Joseph Wilder, and John 
Chandler, jr., Esqrs., are joined with the committee of the 
house for the line between Merrimack and Connecticut riv- 
ers, &c. 

At a great and general court, held in Boston the twenty 
fourth day of November, one thousand seven hundred and 
thirty six, the following vote passed the two houses, and 
was consented to by the governor, viz. : Voted, that Mr. 
Thomas Stevens, of Amesbury, be and hereby is empow- 
ered to assemble the grantees of the township, number one, 
[now Warner] lying in the line of towns between the riv- 
ers of Connecticut and Merrimack, giving timely notice to 
the said gi-antees admitted into the said townsbii) by the 
committee of this court, to meet and assemble at some suit- 
al)le place, in order to choose a moderator and proprietors' 
clerk, and committee to allot and divide their lands and to 
dispose of the same, and to pass such votes and orders as 
by them may be thought conducive for the speedy fulfilment 
of tlie conditions of their grant, and also to agree upon 
methods for calling of meetings for the future. Provided, 
none of their votes concerning the dividing or disposing of 
their lands, that shall be passed while they are under the 
care and direction of the committee of this court, shall be 
of force before they are allowed of by the said committee. 

By order of the great and general court to Deac. Thomas 
Stevens, the proprietors of the township No. 1 met April 
25, 1737. After organizing their meeting, the proprietors 
chose a committee to lay out and divide the township ac- 
cording as they may receive instructions from time to time 
from them. At that meeting it was voted to divide the 
intervale equally among the proprietors according to quan- 
tity and quality ; also to divide the upland lots where it 
may be thought most eligible for settlements. The propri- 



6 HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF WARNER. 

etors appointed the third Wednesday of March as the time 
for their annual meetings. 

At a meeting of the proprietors holden at Amesbury, 
Mass., March 15, 1738, it was determined to lay out sixty- 
three five-acre lots for settlement. Chose a committee for 
that purpose. Also chose their first board of selectmen. 
March 17, Thomas Rowel and Jonathan Barnard took the 
oath of office as selectmen, before Orlando Bagley, justice 
of the peace. 

At a meeting of the proprietors of the township No. 1, 
June 23, 1738, the committee appointed to make some sur- 
veys for settlements, <tc. reported, that they had laid out 
sixty-three house lots, containing about five acres each. 
These lots were laid out in the vicinity of Gen. Aquila Da- 
vis' mills. 

The following individuals drew for their lots at that time, 
and continued their interest in the town till its final settle- 
ment, viz : John Allen, John Hoyt, Jacob Currier, Joseph 
Quimby, Samuel Barnard, John Challis, Ebenezer Wells, 
Nehemiah Ordway, John Jewet, Joseph Jones, John Nich- 
ols, David Ring, Elihu Gould, Stephen ^Morrill, John Pres- 
sey, Stephen Sargent, William Straw, Benjamin Tucker, 
Aaron Rowell, Jonathan Pressey, Gideon Rowell, Jarvis 
Ring, Francis Davis, John Sargent, Jonathan Barnard, 
John Jewel, James Ordway, Paine Wingate, Samuel Straw, 
Ichabod Colby, Jeremiah Flanders, Thomas Rowell. One 
lot was reserved for the first settled minister, one for the 
second minister, and one for the use of a school. As the 
remainder of the complement, sixty-three, were not con- 
nected with the proprietors till the town was settled, their 
names are here omitted. 

At a meeting of the proprietors Jan. 21, 1733, they took 
some measures to clear a road from Contoocook River to 
the meeting-house lot in township No. 1, also to erect a 
saw-mill. 

At a meeting of the proprietors of the township No. 1, 



HISTORICAL SKETCHES OP WARNER. 7 

holden in Amesbuiy (Massachusetts) March 21, 1739, Vot- 
ed to pay Orlando Colby, Joseph Jewell and John Challis, 
Jr. one hundred and twenty pounds in province bills of the 
old tenor, to build a good saw mill ; and if any proprietor 
should neglect to pay his proportion for said mill by the 
last of August, liis right in the township should be exposed 
for sale at auction for the payment as the law directs. 

At the same meeting the following preamble and vote 
passed, viz. " Whereas the proprietors of the township 
No. 1, before they had received any particular directions 
from the General Court to call a meeting in order to the 
laying out land in said township for settlement, supposed 
they had power to call a meeting for business aforesaid, and 
accordingly assembled on October the 7th, 1736, and then 
chose a committee to lay out a division of upland as by the 
record of said township may appear, whereas the commit- 
tee chosen laid out sixty-three forty acre lots and made re- 
turn of their doings to the acceptance of the proprietors, 
who drew their lots, as by said records may appear ; but 
whereas for want of direction and formal orders from the 
General Court to call a meeting and proceed in said busi- 
ness as aforesaid, the said meeting and the business done 
at that time and consequent upon them not being authentic 
and binding, it was proposed whether the proprietors of 
said township being now legally empowered to assemble 
and pass any acts for their own benefit, did approve of their 
original meetings and the division of land and draught of 
the lots referred to, and would prefer the same to the Gen- 
eral Court's Committee for confirmation. Voted in the 
affirmative." 

The meetings referred to in the above preamble and vote, 
were held at Amesbury, the first in Oct. 1736, at which 
meeting David Hing, Benjamin Tucker, Timothy Colby, 
Joseph Jewel, and Isaac Chandler were chosen as a com- 
mittee to survey sixty-three forty acre lots, leaving it at 
their discretion to make the lots as near equal as may be as 



b HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF WARNER. 

to quantity and quality. The second was holden Nov. 25, 
of tlie same year, at which time the committee exhibited a 
])lan of surveys of the number of lots as above named, in 
iour ranges, which report was accepted. In order to under- 
stand more fully the relative situations of places, reference 
should be had to the plan of the town. 

May 28, 1740, the proprietors held their first meeting in 
this town for the purpose of examining the saw-mill and 
other improvements. The mill was accepted. At a meet- 
ing of the proprietors in June, 1740, provisions were made 
for building a dam at the saw-mill, and shortly after meas- 
ures were taken to induce settlers to move into the town. 
At a proprietors' meeting holden at Amesbury, August 29, 
1740, they voted to give twenty pounds to each of the five 
first settlers that will settle on the conditions of the grant 
and make such improvements as are therein required. In 
October following, the proprietors chose an agent, Capt. 
Thomas Rowel, to petition the King's Most Excellent Maj- 
esty to allow this township to remain under the govern- 
ment of Massachusetts. Nov. 17th, the proprietors of the 
township No. 1, in the line of towns, as it was denominated 
on the clerk's book, chose two agents to petition the Gov- 
ernor and Council of New-Hampshire, to issue orders and 
direction to bring forward the settlement of said township. 
From the foregoing date to Jan. 1749, there was but very 
little done towards the contemplated settlement. In 1749, 
the proprietors erected at their expense four houses on the 
five acre l)uilding lots near where Gen. Davis' house now 
stands. The persons employed for that service were Thom- 
as Colby, Moses Morrill, Jarvis Ring, and Gideon Straw. 

The war with France commencing about this time, occa- 
sioned a suspension of all proceedings relative to the set- 
tlement of the town. The saw-mill, which had never been 
put in operation, and the houses erected for the accommoda- 
tion of settlers, were abandoned by the proprietors, and 
finally destroyed by the Indians, and the place again left for 



HISTORICAL SKETCHES OP WARNER. \) 

years to the peaceable possession of tlic savages and tliirteen 
wild beasts, that, for aught we can know, they had enjoyed 
for thousands of years before. 

In 1763, the axeman's blows again broke silence in this 
then howling wilderness. June 21, 1763, the proprietors 
met at Amesbury, and voted to choose a committee to per- 
ambulate the lines of the town ; chose agents to build 
another saw-mill ; also voted that a forty acre lot should be 
given to each of the first ten settlers for their encourage- 
ment to settlement, provided they would settle immedi- 
ately. In August next following, the proprietors voted to 
give up their former division of lots, and that there should 
be sixty forty-acre lots laid out, and a plan of the same 
made out to be returned at the next meeting. The fol- 
lowing persons engaged to go to the township No. 1, in the 
line of towns which took the name of Neio-Ameshury ^ about 
this time to settle, on the condition of receiving a foi'ty- 
acre lot for settling, viz., Enoch Blaisdell, Eliphalet Dan- 
forth, Barnard Iloyt, Elijah Blaisdell, Jeremy Fowler, 
Pasky Pressey, Thomas Jewel, Nathan Currier, Bartholo- 
mew Heath, Joshua Bayley, Daniel Chase, Isaac Chase, 
Abner Wadkins, Francis Davis and Nathan Goodwin. At 
a meeting, Oct. 10, 1765, the first eighty-acre lots were 
drawn by the proprietors. At the same meeting it was 
voted that six shillings should be paid on each right to Mr. 
Farrington to build a meeting-house. In 1766, a commit- 
tee was appointed to lay out a sixty acre lot to each pro- 
prietor ; also to make an equal division of the intervale 
lands. In the same year the proprietors voted to raise 
sixteen shillings on a share to defray the expenses of the 
surveys and to build a meeting-house, the first meeting- 
house having been by accident burnt. In 1740, the divi- 
sional lines between Massachusetts and New Hampshire 
were settled, and soon after this town was granted by the 
Masonian proprietors to sixty three inhabitants of Rye, by 
the name of Jennes-Toivn. This grant caused controversies 



10 HISTORICAL SKF:TCHES OF WARNER. 

and lawsuits between the Amesliury proprietors and Rye 
proprietors, whicli continued to 1773, wlien the parties 
mutually agreed to submit all disputes and contests respect- 
ing the claims to the final determination of Thomas West- 
brook Waldron, Benjamin Greenleaf, Humj^hrey Hobson, 
Benjamin Chadbourne, and Woodbury Langdon, Esqrs., or 
any three of them, and entered into bonds of a thousand 
pounds to abide their judgment. The arbitrators awarded 
140X lawful money to the Rye proprietors, and all contro- 
versies ceased. 

The town was very irregularly laid out. The proprietors' 
first surveys were in 1736, sixty-three forty-acre lots ; next 
the same number of five-acre lots were laid out and drawn 
in 1738 ; and in 1765 an eighty-acre lot was laid out for 
each proprietor. The projirietors sent a committee to sur- 
vey sixty-three sixty-acre lots in 1766. The next survey 
was made of sixty-three forty-acre lots in 1770. In the 
above named surveys but little regard was had to the lines 
of the town, nor were the several surveys made with any 
apparent reference to each other, as to contiguity or regu- 
larity. The consequence was, many gores of land were 
left in very inconvenient and irregular forms. And what 
added much to these irregularities were the changes the 
proprietors were allowed to make in their lots, when they 
chanced to draw those of little or no value, by making out 
surveys of other lots where they pleased in the individual 
lands. 

The first settlement was in 1762, by Daniel Annis and 
his sons-in-law Reuben Kimball and Daniel Floyd. Isaac 
Waldron, his two sons, and Pasky Pressy moved into town 
with their families the year following. It is difficult to 
ascertain the precise order in which the settlers came into 
town afterwards. 

Those who came and occupied the settlers' lots were 
for the most part very poor and illiterate. 

Those mentioned above, and the following persons, with 



HISTORICAL SKETCHES OP WARNER. 11 

their families, constituted nearly all the population in town 
in 1773, viz.: Daniel Flanders, Isaac Chase, Eliphalet Dan- 
forth, Francis Davis, Samuel Roby, Richard Goodwin, 
Joseph Currier, Philip Flanders, Abner Watkins, Elijah 
Blaisdell, Joshua Bagley, Daniel Chase, Daniel Young, 
Daniel Currier, Jeremy Fowler, Barnard Hoyt, Enoch Blais- 
dell, Farmenas Watson, Nehemiah Heath, Joseph Sawyer, 
Jacob Tucker, Moses Clark, Ebenezer Eastman, Theodore 
Stevens, Jonathan Fificld, David Gilmore, Seth Goodwin, 
Ezekiel Goodwin, Joseph Foster, Abner Chase, Stephen 
Edmunds, Hubbard Carter, Thomas Rowell, Robert Gould, 
Theophilus Currier and Nathaniel Trumball. 

The customs and manners of the first settlers were very 
simple and plain. Being circumscribed in the social circles 
and very limited in numbers, each seemed to take an interest 
in, and seek his neighbor's welfare with fraternal affection. 
Before the roads were made comfortable for carriages, 
horses were not so much used for the transportation of 
heavy articles as oxen. Produce was carried to market by 
ox-tearas. Oxen were used also to convey families to and 
from meetings, funerals, &c. And when neither oxen or 
horses could be conveniently used, a ready substitute was 
found by the athletic husbandman in his handsled. In 
mid-winter, when the snow was deep and no paths were 
made, three men went to Hopkinton, five or six miles, and 
brought female help in a case of sickness, on a hand-sled. 
Three families in the south part of the town, living on the 
" Parson Kelley hill," owned each a cow ; they cut their 
forage for their cows in a meadow back of Caleb Jones', 
in the north part of the town, four or five miles distant, 
stacked their hay, and hauled it home in the winter, on 
hand-sleds. Some inhabitants on " Waldron's Hill," im- 
proved a meadow west of the Mink Hills, two or three 
miles distant, in like manner. Nor could even this vehicle 
be used in all cases. In the first years of the settlement of 
the town, several of the inhabitants had to carry their corn 



12 HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF WARNER. 

and grain at least thirteen miles on their backs, to Con- 
cord, to mill. 

Marriages were then entered into in earlier life than lat- 
terly. It was not uncommon for females to marry at the 
age of fifteen or sixteen years, and sometimes the con- 
tracting parties closed their business in a very summary 
way. Rather a humorous instance of this kind occurred 
about sixty years since, between a young man of this town 
and a young woman of Hopkinton. 

Our adventurer went to Hopkinton to attend an ordina- 
tion ; while in the crowded assembly, and the faithful 
preacher was probably inculcating the doctrine of placing 
the affections on things above, his were directed to quite a 
different object. His attention was arrested by the appear- 
ance of a blooming youth, whose native beauty and fair 
form had never suffered martyrdom by tight lacing, the 
unhallowed fashion of modern times. By him her attrac- 
tions were irresistible. The more he gazed the more he 
admired. And when the exercises were closed, he, fixing 
his eye upon her, rushed forward in the crowd and caught 
her in his arms, exclaiming at the same time, "iVow I have 
got ye^ youjade^ I have, I have P^ The sequel to this rude 
introduction was a marriage, — and might be considered 
one of Dr. Watts's " few happy matches." 

In 1775 there were 262 inhabitants in town ; in 1790, 
863 ; in 1800, 1569 ; in 1810, 1838 ; in 1820, 2246 ; and 
in 1830, 2221. 

In the charter of New-Amesljury, now Warner, granted 
Dec. 1767, one right was reserved for the first settled min- 
ister, one for the use of the ministry forever, and one for 
the benefit of schools ; which rights were laid out in the 
same manner as the others were and free from any public 
taxes. The conditions of the grant were, that the proprie- 
tors build a meeting-house and maintain constant preaching 
from and after three years from the date of the grant. 

To aid the settlers in fulfilling these conditions, the pro- 



HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF WARNER. 13 

prietors in Xovember, 1770, voted to pay one dollar and an 
half on each right for one year ; then one dollar a year for 
four years ; then half a dollar for one year, on condition 
that the inhabitants settle " a learned orthodox minister 
in town, on or before Dec. 1772." In 1769, a second meet- 
ing-house was erected ; the first, a poorly constructed log 
house, having been burnt one or two years before. This 
house was built on the site of the first, near the most ele- 
vated spot enclosed in the old burying ground. Its dimen- 
sions were about thirty by twenty-four feet on the floor, 
one story high, covered with long shingles, and boarded. 
But very little finishing was done till the pew ground was 
sold, three or four years afterwards, when the pews were 
sold at auction for from three to three dollars and a half 
each, and the avails of the sales in part laid out on the 
building ; but at best it was a miserable house. The first 
candidate employed to preach in the town was Mr. Timothy 
Walker (afterwards Judge Walker, late of Concord,) in 
the former part of the year 1769. In Dec. 1770, the set- 
tlers, forty-five in number, found themselves jointly and 
severally in the penal sum of 10 £ " to pay their propor- 
tion according to poll and estate, of the expense of support- 
ing an able and learned minister of the gospel, who should 
be approved by the pastors of the neighboring Churches." 
In the spring of 1771, Rev. William Kelley, a native of 
Newbur}', Massachusetts, was employed to preach as a can- 
didate, and in the November following he received a call 
to settle in the ministry, with a salary of 40 X the first 
year, to increase IX 10s a year till it should amount 
to 60£, and twenty cords of Avood annually. This call he 
accepted, and was ordained on the 5th February, 1772, and 
on the same day a Congregational Church was gathered, 
consisting of seven male memljers. On this occasion the 
zeal of Isaac Yf aldron in forming the Church was, perhaps, 
more commendable than his discretion ; for, said he, 
though not a professor of religion, "rather than they 



14 HISTORICAL SKETCHES OP WARNER. 

sliould fail for members, I will take hold and join the 
church myself." There were at this time between forty 
and fifty families in town. 

Mr. Kelly was graduated at Harvard College in 1767. 
He sustained his connexion with the Church and town till 
March, 1801, when at his own request it was dissolved. 
After this he resided in town and preached occasionally 
till his death, which took place suddenly, 18 May, 1813. 
From the time of Mr. Kelly's dismission, there was no set- 
tled minister in town till the ordination of the Rev. John 
Woods, June 22, 1814. Mr. Woods was a native of Fitz- 
william. He graduated at Williams College in 1809 ; he 
sustained a reputable standing as to scholarship while in 
college, and no less so since entering the ministry. Mr. 
Woods was settled by a Congregational society. The town 
voted to concur with the church and society in giving him 
a call to settle ; but soon after, a town meeting w^as called, 
and that vote reconsidered ; and at the same meeting it 
was voted that the parsonage interest money should not be 
allowed for his support. The society, though small, gave 
him a salary of 8400, and twenty cords of wood, per annum, 
and $500 settlement. 

In June, 1823, Mr. Woods was dismissed from his pas- 
toral charge of the church and society by an ecclesiastical 
council convened to take into consideration the subject of 
his support. From this time to the settlement of the pres- 
ent minister, Rev. Jubilee Wellman, Sept. 26, 1827, the 
town was again destitute of a settled minister. 

Mr. Wellman is a native of Greenfield, Massachusetts: 
he fitted for College, but on account of a feeble constitu- 
tion, he did not enter. He attended to his theological 
studies four years at the seminary at Bangor, Maine, and 
was honored with the first appointment in the exercises at 
the close of his studies.* 

* Tlie Deacons of tlie Congregational Church have been as follows : 

Elected. Died or dismissed. 

Parmenas Watson 1772 1825 



HISTORICAL SKETCHES OP WARNER. 15 

Till about the year 1788, the inhabitants were almost en- 
tirely of the Congregational order. About that time, a 
Baptist society was formed, who built a meeting-house and 
partly finished it. They had no regular preaching. After 
a few years the society dwindled away, and their house 
went to ruin, and the fragments were sold at auction in 
1825. Since the formation of the Baptist society, other 
denominations, particularly Freewill Baptists, have been 
somewhat numerous ; but no church of any denomination, 
except Congregational, has ever been formed, nor any min- 
ister ordained. 

At present, there are in this town Congregationalists, 
Baptists, Freewill Baptists, Universalists, Osgoodites, and 
probably many have their religion yet to choose. 

The town has never been blessed with a general revival 
of religion. The greatest revivals ever witnessed in the 
place were in 1816, 1827, and the present time, July, 
1831. In the time of the first revival, about thirty were 
added to the Congregational Church, and a few united 
with the Baptist. 

There is a Social Library in town incorporated in 1796, 
containing from 60 to 80 volumes, but has been for several 
years in a neglected and ruinous condition. 

The following persons have graduated from this town ; 
John Kelly, at Dartmouth in 1804, attorney at law in 
Northwood and one of the founders of the New Hampshire 
Historical Society, and its Recording Secretary from 1823 
to 1831 ; Rev. Hosea Wheeler, at Dartmouth in 1811 ; who 
was a Baptist minister, and died at Eastport, Maine, 27 
January, 1828, se. 32 ; and John Morrill and Asa Putney, 
at Amherst College ; and Stephen C. Badger, at Dartmouth 
in 1823, attorney at law at New London. Richard Bean 

Nehemiah Heath 1772 1816 

David Heatli a. 1809 Dlsin. to HopkintonlSSl 

Isaac Dalton , 1816 

Reuben Kimball 1831 

Ezra Barrett 1831 



16 HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF WARNER. 

received a liberal education, although he did not take his 
degree owing to a difficulty with the authority of College 
rather than a deficiency m scholarship. He studied the 
profession of Law. He survived but a few years after ob- 
taining his education. 

A third Congregational meeting-house was erected in 
1791. The old house being much out of repair the town 
voted to take it down, and sell the nails, glass, <tc., to de- 
fray the expense of building a fence around the burying 
ground. There was but little done towards finishing the 
inside of the new meeting-house for several years. It was 
never finally finished, and is now nearly in ruins. A fourth 
meeting-house was erected by twenty nine individuals of 
the Congregational Society in 1819. It is a very comfort- 
able house and well finished. The whole number of graves 
or interments in town discoverable at this time (Dec. 1830) 
amount to seven hundred and sixteen. 

This town for the most part may be considered rather a 
healthy place. It has not been exempt, however, from epi- 
demic diseases, which have in some instances proved very 
mortal. In 1776, and '77 the dysentery prevailed to an 
alarming extent. In the first of those years, it carried off 
sixteen, and in the second, seventeen of the inhabitants, 
among whom were several adults and heads of families. 

On the 9th September, 1821, this town was visited with 
a most violent and destructive hurricane, by which four 
lives were lost, a number seriously injured and considera- 
ble property destroyed. 

The terrible effects produced by this whirlwind could be 
trac6d with the eye sixteen or eighteen miles, through for- 
ests years afterwards. Its path was of various widths from 
ten to thirty or forty rods. No trees of the forest could 
withstand its violence. Even in some instances the bed 
stones in walls were removed out of their places. Several 
buildings were demolished ; some whirled into the air, 
their parts flying in every direction like feathers. Several 



HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF WARNER. 17 

persons were carried to a considerable distance. Its gen- 
eral course was from north-west to south-east through the 
whole extent of the north part of this town. It began in 
or west of Wendell, west of Sunapee Lake, passed through 
New London, or part of Sutton, over the south-west spur of 
Kearsarge Mountain into the Gore, now Warner, prostrat- 
ing forest trees and buildings, and whatever crops were 
upon the ground in its way were entirely destroyed. Sam- 
uel Savory, an aged man, who lived in the Gore, observed 
the cloud approaching, hastened to secure the Avindows of 
his house, but before he could get from the chamber the 
whirlwind struck the house, there seemed but one crash 
before it was whirled into atoms, himself carried several 
rods and fell his head upon a rock, and killed instantly. 
An infant child of Daniel Savory's was killed at the same 
house. About two miles farther east in its course it came 
unawares upon the houses of Joseph True, Esq., and Peter 
Flanders. Its violence here seemed unabated. Their 
houses were destroyed in an instant. Anna Richardson, 
an elderly woman, and an infant of Peter Flanders, were 
crushed to death under the ruins. Several others griev- 
ously wounded, of whom a little cliild of Mr. True's died a 
short time afterwards. This whirlwind was seen by seve- 
ral at a distance. To those who were on elevated ground 
and near its path, it somewhat resembled an inverted tun- 
nel at the lower part of it, and the reverse of that at its 
upper part. It was seen by several on Burnt Hill when it 
destroyed Mr. True's and Mr. Flanders' buildings, about a 
mile distant, and as it passed on through Bagley's pond 
and expended its violence after destroying Morrill's liouse 
near Boscawen line, which was in full view. In passing 
the pond it carried up large quantities- of water into the 
air, which at first altered the complexion of the cloud from 
a dark appearance to a greenish hue, when at that moment 
the suns rays darted tlirough from between the clouds upon 
2 



18 HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF WARNER. 

it, which immediately altered it to a yellowish or brassy 
appearance.* 

The first settlers of this town were very much annoyed 
by the depredations of bears, raccoons, and other mischiev- 
ous animals in their cornfields. It required great watchful- 
ness and care in the husbandman when the corn was in the 
milk, to preserve a moderate share for the harvest. That 
species of the bear which were numerous here were par- 
ticularly fond of corn in the milk, sweet fruits, honey, &c. 
It was that kind demominated by naturalists Ursus Amer- 
icanus, or the American Bear, has a long pointed nose, and 
is generally smaller than most other kinds. It abounds in 
uninhabited parts of our country, particularly at the north 
of us. It is said to live exclusively on vegetable food, ex- 
ti-eme hunger only being able to induce it to eat the flesh 
of animals. These bears reside in trees, mounting and 
descending them with great alertness. They are frequently 
found burrowed in hollow trees, upon the ground and clefts 
of rocks. Their flesh, when young, is thought delicious 
food, and they were so frequently taken that it was not un- 
common to find the tables of hunters well supplied with it. 
There are several aged men now living in town who have 
killed and assisted in killing many bears. It may not be 
uninteresting to relate a rencounter Thomas Annis, Esq., 
had with a bear. One day late in March, the snow being 
deep, he mounted his snow-shoes and in company with Ab- 
ner Watkins and their dogs set off" towards the Mink Hills 
for a hunt, armed with an axe and gun. In the neighbor- 
hood of the hills, the dogs were perceived to be very much 
excited with something in a ledge of rocks. Annis left his 
companion, Watkins, and ascended a crag twenty or thirty 
feet to where the dogs were, having no other weapon with 
him but his staff which was pointed with iron. After ex- 
ploring a little, he concluded there was no game there of 

* An account of this whirlwind, written by Jacob B. Mooue, Esq. is published In 
these Coll. vol. i. p. 241. 



HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF WARNER. 19 

more consequence than a hedge-hog or some other small 
animal, and being fatigued laid down on the snow on his 
back to rest, reclining his head upon the place he had been 
examining ; he had but just laid down when he heard a 
snuffing under his ear ; he started up and turning round 
found an old bear pressing her head up through the old 
leaves and snow which filled the mouth of her den ; he 
thrust his spear pointed staff at the bear's brisket, and thus 
held the bear which was pressing towards him, at his staffs 
length distance and called to his companion Watkins to 
come up with the axe and kill the bear, which, after some 
little time was effected. After the action was over, Annis 
complained of Watkins' dilatoriness, but Watkins excused 
himself by saying he could not get his gun off, that he had 
snapt, snapt, snapt, several times. Where did you take 
sight ? said Annis, knowing that he was directly between 
him and the bear ; I took sight between your legs, said 
Watkins. 

Very unlike the resolution of these men was that exhib- 
ited by two young men who began a clearing on Pompion 
Hill. They built a camp, and made a beginning to clear 
on the spot where Timothy Davis' house now stands. They 
passed two nights in their camp. On the morning of the 
third day as they went to felling trees, an old bear came at 
them with her mouth wide open, having been alarmed for 
her cubs which were near by ; this so terrified our adven- 
turers that they took to their heels, ran to their camp, 
picked up their provisions, utensils, &c. and were off; no 
persuasives of the people who were then in town could in- 
duce them to stay longer ; they left the wilderness and the 
bears, for the land of their nativity, and never returned 
afterwards. 

Wolves were also troublesome to the first settlers, mak- 
ing great ravages among their sheep. They seem not to be 
satisfied with a competency for their wants, but destroy 
numbers ot sheep and lambs, when in their way, out of 



20 HISTORICAL SKETCHES OP WARNER. 

mere wantonness. There is no animal whose carnivorous 
appetite is stronger th.an that of the wolf, and he is endow- 
ed by nature with all the means of satisfying it, being 
strong, agile, subtle, and enabled not only to explore, but 
to seize and subdue his prey. 

The Catamount and Wildcat were sometimes met with 
by the first settlers. In 1766, Solomon Annis shot at a 
catamount on a tree, brought him to the ground, when he 
seized his axe and dispatched him on the spot. There were 
some beaver about the streams, also some otter, mink, and 
musquash. Wild turkeys, partridges, pigeons, and other 
small game were found pretty plenty in the woods. 

We can but faintly conceive the privations and hardships 
endured by the first settlers, without knowing something 
of their circumstances in life, and the hard condition to 
which they were unavoidably subjected for several years, 
before mills, bridges and roads were constructed for their 
convenience. To commence poor in the woods, without 
houses, without clearings or roads, often destitute of almost 
all the necessaries of life, might seem just occasions to call 
forth and employ the resolution, ingenuity, and energy of 
all who ventured into the forests, to make themselves habi- 
tations and farms. Yet many there were, who, to avail 
themselves of the privileges held out by the proprietors, 
came to occupy their forty acre lots for settling ; subjecting 
themselves to all the inconveniences and privations incident 
to pioneer adventurers, into new and uninhabited countries. 
But, however dark and gloomy a true picture of the times 
might appear in the main, there were some bright spots 
and vivid colors in it. Instead of a great variety of gew- 
gaws and luxuries, the people were clad in plain homespun ; 
and their tables were furnished with plain, simple, but nu- 
tricious food. One consequence was, that diseases were 
less frequent and less numerous. The people enjoyed more 
social and friendly intercourse ; felt more interest in each 
other's welfare, and more ready to contribute to each oth- 



HISTORICAL SKETCHES OP WARNER. 21 

er's wants. Before the fire-brands of discord were thrown 
among the people, they were united like a band of brothers 
and sisters ; to which time the survivors will now refer as 
the happiest of their days. There seems to be a charm in 
encountering difficulties and dangers. We may observe 
this propensity from infancy to manhood, and from man- 
hood to old age. This trait of character is not peculiar to 
hunters, sailors, or soldiers, but is common to all, and will 
continue to be so, so long as mankind are entertained with 
history, travels, and voyages; and more particularly so, 
when associated with hazardous enterprizes, bold daring, 
and feats of bravery. The first settlers considered every 
additional family that moved into town as a valuable ac- 
quisition to the place. All were ready to welcome the new 
comers into the fraternity. 

This town has not been settled long enough to furnish 
instances of remarkable longevity. It is not uncommon, 
however, to meet with some of the first settlers who have 
attained to the ages of 70, 80, and some of 90 years. The 
first white male cliild born in town was Daniel Kimball, 
born October, 1762, and is now living in Canaan. The 
second was a female, Molly Goodwin, who is also living, 
aged 67 years. 

When the war of the revolution commenced, Warner was 
not behind her neighbors in preparing for the contest. 
Though the number of inhabitants was small, and the peo- 
ple poor, they promptly furnished their quota of men for 
the field ; some of whom were perhaps as effective and 
brave as any that could be found in the service. Those 
who took up arms in the cause of their country in 1775, 
previous to the organization of an army by Congress, were 
Charles Barnard, James Palmer, John Palmer, Richard 
Bartlett, Jonathan Roby, Francis Davis, and Wells Davis. 
They enlisted for eight months ; the three last mentioned, 
Roby, F. Davis, and W. Davis, were in Bunker's Hill Battle. 



22 HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF WARNER. 

R. Bartlett, Esq., and C. Barnard, were in a skirmish with 
the British near New-Brunswick, New-Jersej. 

In 1776, the following persons enlisted into the continen- 
tal service, viz. Hubbard Carter enlisted during the war ; 
and Aquila Davis, Amos Floyd, and Philip Eowell, enlisted 
for three years. In the same year Isaac Walker, Pasky 
Pressy, Daniel Young, and John Palmer, were in the mili- 
tia service. During the campaign of Burgoyne, in 1777, 
several men from this town were in the service at Benning- 
ton, Ticonderoga, Saratoga, &c. 

After the expiration of the term of the first three years' 
men, William Lowell, Isaac Lowell, Stephen Colby, and 
Ichabod Twilight, a mulatto, were enlisted for three years. 
Considerable bounties were engaged to the Lowells and 
Colby, by the town, for their encouragement to enlist, and 
were afterwards paid, though they were so fortunate as not 
to be retained in the service the term for which they en- 
listed, or exposed to the dangers of a battle with the enemy. 

During the last war with Great-Britain, early in 1813, 
there were upwards of thirty men from this town enrolled 
in a volunteer regiment, commanded by Gen. Aquila Davig, 
commissioned as a Colonel. Col. Davis's regiment was 
marched to Burlington early in the year 1813, and put un- 
der the command of Gen. Wade Hampton. They were 
twice slightly engaged with the enemy, at Chateaugeay, and 
at the Stone Mills, at La Cole ; neither of which were cel- 
ebrated for any thing gained or lost. Col. Davis com- 
manded a detachment of about 200 men on an island near 
the mouth of Otter Creek, in Lake Champlain, where he 
repelled an attack of the British naval squadron on that 
lake. May 11, 1814. The main design of the British was 
probably to bring on an action with Commodore M'Do- 
nough's squadron, some distance up that Creek. No sol- 
dier has ever been wounded or lost in battle from this town. 

Warner is divided into twenty-one school districts for 
primary schools, for the most part comfortably provided 



HISTORICAL SKETCHES OP WARNER. 23 

with school houses ; in which are taught reading, writing, 
arithmetic, English grammar, geography generally, and in 
some, rhetoric, history, philosophy, chemistry, &c. 

The town is well watered by Warner river and its tribu- 
taries. This is a small river of from twelve to twenty yards 
in width, which rises in New-London and Fishersfield, enters 
at the northwest corner of the town, and runs diagonally 
through the town to the south-east corner, and falls into 
the Contoocook river in Hopkinton, about a mile beyond 
the limits of the town. Tiiis stream divides the town pretty 
nearly into two equal parts, and affords several valualde 
mill privileges. There are six grist-mills in town, two with 
three, and the remainder with two runs of stones each. 
Also, one paper-mill, two clothing mills, and twelve saw- 
mills. There are four ponds, Thom Pond, Pleasant, Bear, 
and Bagley's, which afford a variety of small fish'. In cer- 
tain seasons of the year the salmon trout is caught in Bear 
Pond, of a good size and very fine flavor. Pleasant Pond 
contains perhaps 15 or 20 acres. It has apparently no nat- 
ural channel for an inlet or outlet to it ; but is probably 
supplied through subterranean passages, which raise the 
water at times, without any apparent cause, sufficiently high 
to overflow its banks. 

Mountains. Warner has a full share of mountains and 
high bluffs within its limits. Kearsarge mountain, on the 
north, rears his majestic head from the bosom of a dense 
forest of evergreens. This mountain, which is estimated 
at 2461 feet in height, is not excelled in beauty of form, 
from a southern or eastern view, by any in this part of the 
country. It is frequently visited by the lovers of nature's 
rude and majestic scenery. It is easy of access by the new 
road from Warner to Sutton, and round the north part of 
the mountain in Wilmot and Andover, where people can 
ride comfortably to within a mile of the top of the highest 
peak. From this bluff, the spectator may, l.)y a glance of 
the eye, bring to view nearly all of Merrimack county, and 



24 HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF WARNER. 

parts of Hillsborough, Rockingham, Strafford, Grafton, 
Sullivan, and Cheshire counties. The Mink Hills are a 
range of low mountains, extending from the river to the 
sjuth part of the town, a little west of a centre line. The 
farms in the neighborhood of these mountains are valuable 
for grazing, and afford good orcharding. 

The principal timber trees of our forests are pine, several 
species, oak, white and red, maple, birch, beech, chestnut, 
ash, hemlock, spruce, bass, &c. Pine and oak were found 
in the greatest abundance and of the best quality. So in- 
sensible were the first settlers to the value of timber, that 
thousands and thousands of dollars worth of the finest tim- 
ber trees were destroyed by fires, and others wantonly cut 
down, and left to perish upon the ground. Many samples 
of this waste may be seen at the present day. Great quan- 
tities of excellent clear l)oards have been sawed at the sev- 
eral mills in town. The white oak also has been found in 
considerable quantities, and of an excellent quality. Our 
navy yard has been furnished with several very fine keel 
sticks for seventy four gun ships, from this and the adjoin- 
ing town of Hopkinton. Timber, however, is now becom- 
ing scarce. 

Warner may be considered strictly a farming town. 
Beef, pork, butter, cheese, mutton, poultry and some wool, 
are the principal articles raised for the market. Corn, rye, 
wheat, oats, peas, beans, potatoes, turnips, and most garden 
vegetables are raised for home consumption. There is gen- 
erally a very considerable deficiency in bread stuffs. Hay 
of a good quality is cut upon the upland farms, consisting 
of clover, herdsgrass, redtop, ttc. and in the intervals and 
meadows, foulmeadow, bluejoint and several other kinds of 
grasses. Apples are raised in great abundance, but little 
attention has as yet been paid by farmers to the improve- 
ment of their quality by grafts. Pears, peaches, cherries, 
and most kinds of stone fruits may be easily raised here to 
great perfection. Melons, squashes and pompions flourish 



HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF WARNER. ^O 

well. Flax was raised formerly for home use, but latterly 
cotton cloths supersede linens, and the raising of it is al- 
most entirely neglected. 

On the general scale, we may consider genius, not alto- 
gether as an exotic, but a native plant, common to all the 
human family, not confined to any locality, nor such a fac- 
ulty as will vegetate and grow luxuriantly without care and 
cultivation. And the stinted growth of it here, is not so 
much attributable to any natural deficiency, as to a culpable 
neglect of literary and scientific pursuits. 

The physicians who have been in practice any considera- 
ble time in town are the following, viz. Doctor John Hall 
was the first, and is now living in Maine, *John Currier, 

f Cogswell, *Thomas Webster, *\Villiam Dinsmoor, 

*Henry Lyman, fSilas Wali^er, the writer of these sketch- 
es, *Caleb Buswell, and Leonard Eaton. They are inserted 
in the order in which they came into town and commenced 
business. There are two attorneys in town, the only two 
who have ever resided long in the place ; Henry B. Chase 
and Harrison G. Harris, Esquires. There are three stores 
and two taverns in town. 

A town Lyceum was formed in June, 1830, which will it 
is hoped exert an influence in favour of mental improve- 
ment, the greal object for which it is formed. 

* Deceased. t Removed. 



26 



HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF WARNER. 



The following; Talkie, which was taken from the records of Eicn- 
ARD Bartlett, Esq., will show the important information of the 
opening of Spring on the hills in Warner; the pine lauds are ready 
for the plough usually at least a week or ten days earlier ; this in- 
dicates the near close of foddering time of young cattle and sheep. 



In 1801 


Ploughed March 28. 


Sowed wheat April 5. 


1802 


dS. 


April 


14. 


do. 


19, 


1803 


do. 


do. 


11. 


do. 


18. 


1805 


do. 


do. 


1. 


do. 


6. 


1806 


do. 


do. 


21. 


do. 


26. 


1807 


do. 


do. 


25. 


do. 


May 4. 


1808 


do. 


do. 


11. 


do. 


April 15. 


1809 


do. 


do. 


18. 


do. 


22. 


1810 


do. 


do. 


20. 


do. 


24. 


1811 


do. 


do. 


4. 


do. 


8. 


1812 


do. 


do. 


21. 


do. 


29. 


1813 


do. 


do. 


19. 


do. 


28. 


1814 


do. 


do. 


12. 


do. 


16. 


1815 


do. 


do. 


19. 


do. 


29. 


1816 


do. 


do. 


20. 


do. 


26. 


1817 


do. 


do. 


15. 


do. 


23, 


1818 


do. 


May 2. 


do. 


May 9. 










very- 


good crop. 


1819 


do. 


April 23. 


do. 


April 27. 


1820 


do. 


do. 


22. 


do. 


27. 


1821 


do. 


do. 


17." 


do. 


24. 


1822 


do. 


do. 


9. 


do. 


18. 


1823 


do. 


do. 


17. 


do. 


23. 


1824 


do. 


do. 


10. 


do. 


18. 


1825 


do. 


do. 


11. 


do. 


16. 


1826 


do. 


do. 


16. 


do. 


24. 


1827 


do. 


do. 


16. 


do. 


21. 


1828 


do. 


March 


31. 


do. 


12. 


1829 


do. 


April 17. 


do. 


27. 


1830 


do. 


do. 


9. 


do. 


15. 


1831 


do. 


do. 


2, 


do. 


26. 



BILL OF MORTALITY IN WARNER, KEPT BY MRS. BENJAMIN EVANS. 





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